FITCHBURG, Mass. – The Wentworth Institute of Technology ice hockey team snapped a 1-1 tie with four goals in the third period, en-route to a 5-1 victory over Fitchburg State in non-conference ice hockey action at the Wallace Civic Center in second round action of the 2013 ICFCU Shootout.
Wentworth opened the scoring at the 6:53 mark as sophomore forward Mike Cox (Marlborough, Mass.) knocked home his first marker of the season for the 1-0 lead. Freshman Devin Smith (Tewksbury, Mass.) and junior Beau Burgau (New Ulm, Minn.) assisted on the play.
In the second frame, Fitchburg State tied up the score midway through the stanza when sophomore forward Max Lorenzen (Leesburg, Va.) slide a pass over to classmate John Celli (Leominster, Mass.), who tucked the puck under the crossbar for the power-play tally to make the score 1-1 going into the third period.
The Leopard came out firing in the final period as freshman Robert Mantha (Clarkston, Mich.) connected for his first collegiate tally just 1:16 into the frame. Mantha took a feed from Burgau and buried a shot inside the far post for the 2-1 advantage.
Wentworth upped its lead less than two minutes later when freshman Joe Mottiqua (Cecil, Penn.) struck for his first collegiate score off an assist from junior Seric Kapp (Scheafferstown, Penn.) to make it 3-1. Before the visitors capped the game's scoring on goals by junior Michael Heffner (Lloydminster, Sask.) and freshman Jordan Simmonds (Brighton, Mich.), resulting in the 5-1 final.
Throughout the contest Wentworth held a 50-21 advantage in shots, while the Falcons finished 1-for-5 on the power-play. In goal, junior Ryan Wysocki (Grand Rapids, Mich.) collected 45 saves for Fitchburg State, while counterpart Alex Peck (Kirkland, Que.) finished with 20 stops en-route to his first victory of the season for the Leopards.
Burgau and Heffner each earned a spot on the all-tournament team.
Despite the victory for the Leopards, the Lancers of Worcester State were crowned the 2013 ICFCU Tournament Champions, collecting seven total points on the weekend. Each team was awarded one point for each period won in addition to two points for each victory and one point for each tie. Worcester State opened the tournament with three points, defeating Wentworth in game one Friday night, before posting four points this afternoon with a 3-1 win over Becker College.
Fitchburg State (1-1-0) returns to action on Tuesday at it hosts the Pilgrims of New England College at 7 p.m. Wentworth (1-1-0) will visit Salem State on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
2013-14 IC Federal Credit Union Final Standings
Worcester State (2-0-0) 7 points
Fitchburg State (1-1-0) 6 points
Wentworth (1-1-0) 5 points
Becker (0-2-0) 1 point
2013-14 IC Federal Credit Union All-Tournament Team
BEC freshman F Nickolas McKee (Bakersfield, Calif.)
FIT sophomore F Ryan Connolly (Wappingers Fall, N.Y.)
WOR junior F Nathan Stanley (Meriden, Ida.)
WOR junior F Stephen Rock (Tulsa, Okla.)
WIT junior D Beau Burgau (New Ulm, Minn.)
WIT junior D Michael Heffner (Lloydminster, Sask.)
WOR freshman G Salvatore Tecci (Franklin, Mass.) MVP
(Recap courtesy of Fitchburg State Sports Information)